Embossed radiography utilizing an image-shifting subtraction program

We developed an image-shifting subtraction program and carried out embossed radiography (ER) utilizing single- and dual-energy subtractions. In particular, dual-energy subtraction was carried out to decrease the absorption contrast of unnecessary regions. The contrast resolution of a target region was increased using the subtraction program and a linear-contrast system in a flat panel detector (FPD). The X-ray generator had a 100 μm-focus tube, and the subtractions were performed at tube voltages of 40 and 70 kV, a tube current of 0.50 mA, and an X-ray exposure time of 5.0 s. ER was achieved with cohesion imaging using the FPD with pixel sizes of 48×48 μm2, and the shifting dimension of an object in the horizontal and vertical directions ranged from 48 to 96 μm. At a shifting distance of 96 μm, the spatial resolutions in the horizontal and vertical directions measured with a lead test chart were both 83 μm. In ER of animal phantoms, we obtained high-contrast embossed images of fine bones, gadolinium oxide particles in blood vessels, iodine-based microspheres in coronary arteries approximately 100 μm in diameter.